Invoice2go gets $15M to compete more directly with Square and PayPal
Since 2002, Invoice2go has provided small businesses with one tool—a simple way to create an invoice and send it to clients. Now, with $15 million in new funding, the company is preparing to expand more deeply into the small business product territory. Today, Invoice2go is partnering with Stripe to allow invoice recipients to pay their bills through its platform. With this integration, Invoice2go joins the growing number of companies dedicated to building out services for small businesses. It also puts Invoice2go more closely in competition with Square, PayPal, QuickBooks, and FreshBooks — all of which offer invoicing as a feature in their overall back office ecosystem. Invoice2go got its start […]
BPay first to offer instant payments on banks’ New Payments Platform
Getting paid instantly by quoting a mobile number or email address will soon be possible. Big-bank-owned BPay will bury the need to memorise bank account numbers and allow people and businesses to pay each other with mobile numbers, emails or ABNs via the first payment service to be offered on the $1 billion New Payment Platform (NPP) being built by banks, payment companies and the Reserve Bank. The move echoes the plans of the failed MAMBO (Me At My Bank Online) project run by the big four banks and BPay that had a similar plan but collapsed after NAB and ANZ pulled out over fears some banks would get a […]
NAB does 10-year deal with Visa amid banks’ Apple battle
As the battle between tech giants, card companies and banks for a slice of their substantial unsecured lending profits heats up, NAB has announced a decade-long deal with Visa on new payment innovations. Source: NAB does 10-year deal with Visa amid banks’ Apple battle
Apple Pay to launch in Australia through American Express in 2015
Apple has bypassed banks who are unwilling to give up their card fees by launching Apple Pay with American Express in Australia and a host of other countries. Amex’s global head of mobile products and payments, Tony Prentice, said its customers in Australia and Canada will be able to use Apple Pay for transactions on iPhones, Apple Watch and iPads this year and in Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong in 2016. “We believe it is critical to be on the forefront of seamless and innovative payment solutions for our card members and we are pleased to be able to deliver on that with Apple Pay,” he said in a statement. […]
Helping Kids Become Financially Savvy
It’s rare to meet a person who has never experienced anxiety about money, at least once in their lifetime. For many of us, it all comes down to a lack of knowledge. But imagine if you were well-educated in the basics of money, from childhood? That’s the intention behind fintech start-up Piggy – a digital piggybank (pre-paid debit card) for 8-18 year olds. Piggy is the brainchild of former investment banker Mario Hasanakos, and Alex Badran, a recent PhD USyd graduate in mathematics. Piggy is a financial education product for families, built around a pre-paid debit card for kids, aged 8-18. They get a card which is useable for wherever […]
Why these giant Chinese companies could destroy Australia’s fintech ambitions
Fintech companies are some of the hottest startups around right now. Incredibly, more than 20 are now valued over $US1 billion. Australian credit reference fintech, Veda, might get bought for $2.2 billion. The possibilities offered by fintech are enormous. Mobile payments, payment terminals, smart contracts, smart bonds, P2P lending and crowdsourcing are all examples of new technologies that pose a risk to core services provided by the financial establishment. This is why they want in. According to some, Australia has the potential to be a leader in the sector. Australian super funds are investing heavily, with First State Super launching its own venture capital platform just weeks after putting $110 […]
PromisePay to propel payments for Airtasker start-up | The Australian
Australian online marketplace start-up Airtasker has recruited Westpac-backed fintech firm PromisePay to power its transactions. PromisePay, which recently secured funding from Westpac’s Reinventure Fund, as well as 99 designs co-founder Mark Harbottle, Australian venture capital firm Rampersand and US fintech venture capitalists Cultivation Capital, works with marketplaces and on-demand platforms in the US and Australia to manage their payment requirements. The start-up’s chief executive, Simon Lee, said PromisePay’s fundamental point of difference was trust. “What we do is, the money never touches the marketplace’s account,” he said. “The only money that ever touches the marketplace is accountancy fees. So, specifically in our contract, we make the marketplace a broker of […]
Preference for digital payments makes Australian banking ripe for fintech disrupters
Australian consumers’ love of contactless payments has helped push the country up global rankings that measure the use of non-cash payments across the world. Australia had the fourth-highest number of non-cash payments per person in the world, the report by consultancy Capgemini and bank RBS said. There were more than 300 non-cash transactions per person a year, the report said, putting Australia behind only Finland, the United States and the Netherlands. This is an increased from a few years ago, when Australia was ranked sixth in the report, and the rise reflects strong growth in digital payments for smaller purchases, where “tap and go” services on credit and debit cards […]
